The Beginnings at the End
by KZN
Summary: Neuro has just returned and everything is back to normal, except for one bit. There is something peculiar going on between Neuro and Yako, and neither of them really know what it is. Takes place directly after the end of the anime. No spoilers. NeuroxYako
1. 01 Hell is Cold

Author's Note: This here is my first fanfiction, so I really hope it turns out all right. I don't think it includes any spoilers (at least for now.) Thank you for checking it out, and I hope you like it! If you'd like, please leave a comment. _Constructive _criticism and positive comments only, please; if you really hate this thing, please do not bother commenting at all.

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"Prepare yourself, Yako! We're looking for the Ultimate Mystery."

That is what he had said, and yet… "Neuro, um…why are we in Hell?" asked Yako tentatively.

The demon clamped his hand onto the girl's head, painfully squeezing her. "That is none of your concern, servant, although I suppose I can tell you this time." He informed her smoothly. "I seem to have forgotten one of my most important gadgets."

Yako did not complain about Neuro's vice-like grip on her head; the girl was mostly used to it by now. A part of Yako was surprised that Neuro had actually forgotten something, had made a mistake. It almost seemed impossible to her. Well, either way. There were more pressing matters at hand, including this "Hell" place. Admittedly, she was much less shocked and afraid than most humans would have been if they had been brought here, but even so. Why did he have to bring _her_ here?

As Neuro dragged her along, Yako could see that Hell was just as Neuro had described it on numerous occasions. Just as gruesome, just as nauseating, just as morbid. Surrounding them were what looked to Yako like many disheveled corpses lying around, or even suspended several feet off the ground; mostly human, some animal, and some she could not recognize. Steam issued in bursts from pores in the mostly barren, thorny ground, although every once in a while, a gnarly, ugly, dangerous-looking plant was growing and twisting, blinking strange eyes and curling exotically fanged branches. Several pits in the ground contained either dirty, boiling water or hot, bubbling magma. The sky was a dark, sickly, grayish red color, lined with smoggy brownish and purple clouds. Occasionally, an odd creature or two scurried by, snarling or screaming.

But Yako was not so intent on sightseeing; the air, if you could really call it that, felt thick and was difficult to breath. Neuro had used a strange gadget that allowed her to breathe down her at all, but even so, each breath took strength and concentration. Finally when Neuro had released Yako's head and allowed her to actually walk behind him, she noticed that the path they walked on was bumpy and looked like it was made up of blood-and-gut covered pebbles, which slipped under Yako's feet and made it hard to walk. Yako was careful, however, not to trip; small potholes in the path seemed to be filled with a mixture of magma and off-color green slime, and she did not want to end up with any part of her body touching the odd substance. Not only that, but as horribly cliché as it was, it was incredibly, swelteringly hot. Yako felt that she was about to pass out from all the discomfort and heat, however Neuro looked perfectly comfortable.

"Ahh, Neuro, can't you at least tell me why _I_ had to come along?" groaned Yako, trudging behind the demon still. She had asked him several times what he had forgotten and why, but as of yet, he had not answered.

Neuro turned around to look at Yako, smiling vacantly with a blank, innocent, and yet mocking look in his eyes. Yako knew that look. She knew the answer was coming before she heard it.

"No." said Neuro simply, flicking her hard in the forehead. With that, the demon turned back around to continue walking, ignoring the annoyed glare his servant had given him.

Yako normally would have persisted with her question and perhaps complained, but she hadn't seen Neuro for quite awhile, and she had to admit to herself that she had missed him somewhat in his absence. Her hard glare unconsciously softened to a fond smile; she wasn't going to be bothered by Neuro's abusive treatment of her. No, not today. She was glad just to see him again, even though when he had not showed up at the office for so long, a small part of her had been relieved. But again, Yako was forced to admit to herself that a much larger part of her had been longing for his return. The girl had grown attached to the demon, but she, who was so good at understanding the emotions and psychology of others, did not know why or how. But for now, she told herself, it didn't matter. He was back, and everything had returned to normal. If you could really call Yako's day-to-day life "normal" in the first place.

Yako decided to distract herself from the unpleasant atmosphere by concentrating on the very few things that she could still find to look pretty; along the sides of the path, she looked down to gaze upon a few bright blue and purple flowers. They were thorned and oddly twisted, but at least they were not drooling or gnarled like most of the other plants she had seen. At least these did not look like they wanted to eat her. Yako bent down to pick one.

Neuro, smirking, spoke up again.

"I wouldn't touch those, if I were you, Servant Number One." He informed the girl, who froze. "They squirt acid into the eyes of anyone who picks them."

Yako, more disappointed than freaked out, stood once again to follow behind Neuro; she suspected that Neuro had told her this information about the flowers more to ruin her excitement than to protect her from the supposed acid. She doubted the flowers would, in reality, do anything to her. But now as she looked behind her, on closer inspection, she could see that the tulip-like flowers had wicked little eyes and miniscule fanged mouths. She sighed.

Hearing Yako's sigh, the demon raised an eyebrow, but did not turn around to look at the girl.

"What are you thinking, servant?" asked Neuro uninterestedly, mainly out of curiosity.

"Well, I'm just thinking I shouldn't have really been expecting anything from Hell in the first place…" Yako answered, slightly disconcerted, as she had just seen one of the flowers stick a pointy tongue out at her.

Neuro smirked. Stooping down, he lifted what seemed to be a small golden retriever puppy from the ground that had been munching on a bone that looked horrifyingly human. The only features that made the creature look unlike an earthen canine were the two small horns protruding from its skull.

"What are you saying, louse?" An innocent-faced Neuro spun around to face Yako once again. "It's cute, right?"

It was _cute,_ Yako admitted to herself, but the intelligent part of her brain told her it was some sort of trap. Nevertheless, rather childishly, Yako nodded and bent down slightly to look at the dog-like animal. Immediately, its jaws opened disproportionately wide and snapped shut around the girl's head. She let out a shriek and stumbled backward as Neuro released his hold on the animal. Luckily for Yako, the creature soon relinquished its grip on her head, using the back of her head to spring away from her. However, the force of the thing's jump pushed her forward and she fell flat on the grimy path, her face dangerously close to a magma-slime pothole. She watched the dog-like creature cackle devilishly and then scamper away. The girl quickly pushed herself to her feet before Neuro could pull anything else. _I could cry…_

Neuro smiled to himself in amusement; indeed, it was much more entertaining to have his servant with him, after all.

Just as Yako felt she was finally recovered and comfortable (as comfortable as a human can get, in her circumstances, that is,) she was faced with another rather troubling situation.

The air, which up until now had been warm past any human's comfort zone, was now cold. She hadn't realized it, but the temperature had gradually dropped over the past few minutes, and by now it was below freezing.

"N-N-N-Neuro," She chattered, wrapping her arms around herself to provide what little insulation she could from the cold. "W-What h-happened to Hell being w-warm?"

"You humans have changes of weather. Why is it so surprising?" asked Neuro, ignoring his servant's discomfort. Aside from the chattering of her teeth, Yako was now silent.

It was not long before Neuro had to realize, as the temperature continued to decrease, that humans simply could not withstand these temperatures. _Really,_ he thought to himself as he glanced behind him to see his servant shivering violently, _such weak creatures. Well, now is her chance to evolve..._ The demon continued to attempt to ignore Yako's shaking and chattering teeth, but it did not last very long. The temperature was still steadily dropping, and the girl would die soon if he didn't do anything. And it would not do to have her damaged beyond repair. With a slight roll of his eyes, and without a word, Neuro slipped off his jacket and dropped it onto Yako in a fashion of what he hoped to be indifference; he mustn't have her thinking he was going soft on her. No, he wasn't. Not at all. He still wanted her to evolve, Neuro assured himself, but if she died, that would be impossible. Almost annoyed at himself, he wondered if the girl would have actually died at this temperature. But what did he know of human limits?

Yako, shocked beyond belief at first, stopped in her tracks, letting the demon's jacket fall onto her shoulders. Was that a show of kindness? From Neuro? Impossible. Nevertheless, the girl curled the jacket around herself, cuddling into it to erase her shivers. The thing was incredibly too big for her, but it was still warm with Neuro's body heat, and it brought huge relief to her freezing body. Yako brought the garment tightly around her neck and face. It was warm, so comfortably warm, and she was no longer shaking. _This is Neuro's…_ She stopped herself. What was she thinking? She quickly passed off her strange train of thought as a side effect of Hell's unfamiliar atmosphere.

It was—or at least it felt like so to Yako—several miles more of walking along the hellish path before Neuro had found what he had come for. Neuro had yanked back his jacket immediately after the temperature had risen above freezing again, and since then the temperature had returned to its uncomfortably hot state. It turned out that the gadget that Neuro had forgotten was not so "important" after all.

"Ah, here it is!" Neuro announced to himself, finally picking up the oddly shaped object. Yako was trying to get a look at what it was until he spoke again. "Evil Station."

Yako couldn't believe it. He had brought her through all of this, just to retrieve a stupid game system that would most likely only be used to torture her more later?

"Neuro! Do you really _need_ that?!" She spoke up, astonished and irritated. Well, a logical part of her brain told her, it wasn't the first time Neuro had put her through unpleasant situations for no good reason.

"Of course," said Neuro simply, shoving Yako roughly forwards, back the way they had come.

Yako sighed; best to let it go. But just as she began walking, she stopped.

"Um, Neuro…couldn't you just take us back to the human world from here?" She didn't know why she bothered to ask; she knew the answer anyways.

"No," The demon replied, pocketing the Evil Station while pondering what sort of excuse for tormenting her he should use. "Because your pig-like form needs to walk off those calories from all the food you eat. Isn't that right?"

When the two had finally returned to the office in the human world, Yako was exhausted. All she wanted to do was sleep. Well, maybe eat first, and then sleep, but either way, Neuro gave her no time to do either, and sent her out alone to search for mysteries.

Well, Yako presumed, it wouldn't hurt to eat while she was out. It wasn't as if Neuro would be able to find out. And even if he did, she supposed her punishment for slacking off wouldn't be too bad; after being in Hell, Neuro seemed to be in a good mood. Plenty of that Shouki stuff down there, Yako reasoned.

She returned to the office almost fully rejuvenated, having cleared several menus from several different restaurants while she was out. She came in grinning several hours later, holding out a flyer to Neuro. The demon took it and scanned over it, reading every word on the colorful page.

"Hey, Neuro, are you listening to me? I said, I don't know about mysteries, but it's possible, right?" Yako's excitement was obvious; even Neuro could detect it in her voice.

"What is this…event?" asked Neuro curtly.

"It's a festival; there could be mysteries there, right?" Yako continued eagerly. It was clear that she was not interested in it for the possibility of a mystery.

"You're lucky I sense a mystery with this one, because if I had not, I would have decapitated you for saying such a hebetudinous thing, worm." Neuro informed the girl. "We'll go."


	2. 02 Just This Once

"Cease your incessant pacing, you walking pile of garbage." Neuro called to Yako. The demon was slightly irked at the girl's impatience.

Yako was, as Neuro had said, endlessly pacing the length of the office. The festival was on Friday night, and yet it was only Monday, and so the duo was left with nothing to do but wait. That, and inform Godai of Neuro's return; these two things left Yako both impatient and anxious.

"But, Neuro!" protested Yako. "I can't just sit there! Besides, Godai is—"

When Yako did not stop, the demon spoke again.

"Time will not move faster if you waste energy. Now, stop, or I shall send you down an enlarged cheese grater into a pool of iodine." Immediately following the threat, the girl froze in her tracks, shuddering slightly. Neuro smirked. "As for that useless lump of dirt Godai, you need not worry. I have had Akane send him a message stating that he is to return at once to resume his duties as Servant Number Two."

"Are you so sure he's going to listen to that?" asked Yako uncertainly. The former-Yakuza had left the office just as quickly and apathetically as ever, and Yako was quite doubtful that he would be so eager to return.

"But of course," answered Neuro simply, smiling vacantly. "For at the end of the message I have told Akane to include 'If you do not return, you will be hunted down and stripped of your flesh and—'"

Yako was sorry she had asked.

"Yes, yes, I get it." interrupted Yako, not wanting to hear anymore of Neuro's sick ideas.

It was almost an hour later that Godai burst through the door angrily, making Yako jump and Akane twitch nervously.

"What the _hell_ do you want, monster?!" demanded Godai, grinding his teeth.

"You sure took your sweet time getting here, Slave Number Two," said Neuro coldly with a malicious grin. "Now keep your ugly voice down before I remove your vocal cords."

Godai had not received his answer, and instead, an immediate insult and threat; his anger was mounting quickly. With a sound not unlike a growl, he clenched his hands into fists, ready to beat the pulp out of this demon for once, even if it did land him in an incinerator.

"Hey, hey, Mr. Godai…welcome back," Yako greeted the man nervously, trying to shake loose the tension between him and Neuro. She made her way over to him and shut the office door, gently guiding Godai over to his desk. "For now, why don't you just relax?"

As he stepped over to the desk, Godai's foot rammed into its metal frame, hard. Determined not to cry out in pain, he clenched his teeth tightly together, eyes watering. Hearing a devilish cackle, Godai shot a glance at Neuro's amused face and could only think that the monster was immensely enjoying his misfortunes.

"Like I ever could relax around here!" he yelled, and with that turned around and kicked the door open, swearing as he stomped off to the roof.

"Mr. Godai!" Yako called after him, but the livid man had already gone. With a sigh, she shut the office door once again. She looked back at the blankly smiling demon, annoyed. "Geez, Neuro! You could've given him a break, just this once!"

When Neuro didn't answer, Yako resumed her pacing of the office, having already forgotten about the demon's earlier threat. After a few minutes, Neuro spoke again.

"If you have so much energy to be wasting by walking like that, then go out and look for more mysteries for me." It was an order. "Between now and Friday, I'd like some food. So go and find me a mystery, servant. Do not come back without one, or…"

The demon leaned forward, eyes glowing, to grin maliciously at the girl, exposing his pointed set of teeth. Watching a large, razor-sharp claw pierce through the demon's gloved hand and morph into a dangerous-looking instrument that curled around her neck, Yako swallowed and quickly nodded in comprehension.

"I get it, I get it. No need to remind me." She assured him, and then quickly left the office with a sigh. Once again, she had a threat hanging over her head.

She decided to see how Godai was doing before searching for anything. She headed up to the roof to find him sulking leaning over the railing, facing the sunset.

"Mr. Godai?" Yako announced her presence carefully, quietly walking over to the man. She heard a sniffle. "Are you crying?"

"I am not." Godai shakily told her, and yet it was clear that he was struggling to keep his voice firm. He kept his eyes away from the girl. "Men don't cry."

Yako could not resist a small giggle.

"Hey, it's ok if they do sometimes, you know." She assured him.

"I'm tired of his crap."

"Well, Neuro is Neuro, right? At least he's back." Yako nodded resolutely, mostly to herself. _At least he's back…_

"That ain't a good thing!" Godai snapped, but Yako merely shrugged.

"Well, I wonder…" She said noncommittally. Sensing that she was not helping much, she turned to go. "In any case, Neuro wants me to find him another mystery, so I've got to get going…"

"Ah, yeah." said Godai, still not looking at Yako. As the girl made her way to the doorway to the stairwell, he glanced behind him to look at her briefly. "Yako, just…be careful, all right? It's getting pretty late."

He felt stupid for saying it.

"Yeah." said Yako, nodding. She waved and started down the stairs. "See ya."

Really, Neuro ought to give the guy a break, Yako thought to herself again. It didn't occur to her until she was on the street and walking that perhaps Neuro _had_ given Godai a break, by sending her out instead of him. She smiled to herself. Perhaps the demon wasn't as bad as Godai thought he was.

Yako had been wandering around for several hours by now, and night had set in on the city. She had not really known what Neuro considered to be a good enough "mystery," nor where to find one, and so she had contemplated herself by looking through countless newspapers and magazines, finding nothing that would interest the demon. She now stood outside of a ramen shop, one of the few that were still open so late.

"I'm hungry…" she groaned exhaustedly to herself, watching the customers sitting and talking as they enjoyed their meal. Perhaps she could take a break to eat, but she had no money on her. There was food back at the office, but Neuro had told her not to return without a mystery. "Mm…" she sighed quietly, her eyes shining as she gazed longingly at the food being prepared.

"Are you hungry, Miss Detective?"

"Ah?" Yako spun around to find a middle-aged man in a business suit smiling at her. "Ah, well, yes, but—"

"I'll treat you, how about that?" The man asked, interrupting her.

It was a bit strange, Yako had to admit, being treated to a meal by a stranger, but she was too hungry to really question it.

"Well, if you're really ok with that!" said Yako, trying to be polite, but sounding a little too enthusiastic. Realizing this, she quickly covered her mouth. "Sorry."

The man just laughed.

"It's fine," he kindly assured her. "But let's go to a nicer place than this. If you're going to be treated to a meal, might as well get the best out of it!"

"Are you sure? I don't mean to impose…"

The man waved his hand in dismissal.

"It's fine, it's fine!" he told her with a small wink, still with a small, smile on his face. "Come on, let's go. There's a really classy place I know of. Excellent food."

The man turned to lead Yako down the sidewalk and she followed. _Looks like I got lucky!_ Grinning to herself, Yako followed behind the man for several blocks, taking quite a few turns. It was not long before she no longer knew where in the city she was. And by the looks of it, this part of town seemed old and run-down—definitely not a place where one would expect to fine any sort of "classy" restaurant. A small, suspicious part of Yako's brain wondered why she was still following this man. Was she really _that_ hungry?

"Um…are you sure there's a restaurant around here?" asked Yako warily. "In such a place…"

"Oh, yes, of course. I'm positive." answered the man, grinning as he turned right on the sidewalk to start down a dim alleyway. "It's just out of the way. Only serves the best customers. You could say…it's a bit of a secret."

As Yako watched the man disappear into the alleyway, she had to hesitate. Was this really safe? Her stomach growled. She followed after the man.

"Right in here," said the man, opening up a weathered, painted black door on the building to their right.

It struck Yako as odd that she heard no voices of customers from the inside, nor saw any lights or smelled any food. But by the time she had comprehended that this was only an empty warehouse, the man had already pushed her inside and shut the door behind them, blocking the exit with his body. The girl froze in fear. How could she have been so stupid?! How?! She read this kind of stuff on the news all the time, and moreover, she was supposed to be a detective! How could she have fallen for such a trick?! The man's small smile widened and grew into a lecherous, lustful grin. He simply laughed as the girl glanced nervously around, desperately looking for an escape route. There were boxes and crates and stacks of tables and chairs, but no other doors. There were windows, but…

"Do not worry, all the windows have bars…" said the man sarcastically. "After all, this is a terrible part of town. We wouldn't want any break-ins…"

Yako, usually good at knowing what to say as she did with criminals on many occasions, was at a loss for words. As the man lifted a coil of rope from a crate lying at his feet and made his way slowly towards her, Yako could only think of one thing to say.

"…What?"

"I finally caught you alone, without that stupid assistant of yours… To be honest, I couldn't care less about your lousy work, this stuff making you famous..." The man began to talk, still advancing on the girl as she slowly backed away. "It's just…your body. It's so wonderful, so _young_ and _smooth_ and _small…_"

Although Yako was careful not to make any sudden movements, the man lashed out at her and grabbed her tightly by the arms, his fingers pressing hard into her flesh and bruising her skin. She began to struggle, but it was, in the end, no use. She was pushed back onto a chair, and the man began to tie her up, binding her tightly to the wooden furniture.

By the time Neuro had arrived, effortlessly breaking through one of the windows, Yako was fully bound and gagged, tightly strapped to the chair. Her captor was in the process of checking his job for escape-worthy flaws. As the demon came smashing into his plans, he swore loudly. An eye-witness!

"It took me awhile to find you, little louse," Neuro informed the girl. "You've been taking too long…"

Yako, of course, was unable to reply, but Neuro did not need one. Stalking towards the man that was Yako's captor, the demon showed the man a sharp-toothed grin. It was enough to send the man scrambling towards the door. Unfortunately for him, he was only human, and it was only a matter of seconds before Neuro had him tied up just as Yako had been.

Turning towards the girl, removing the gag from her mouth, Neuro could not fathom why—even though he knew she had not found him a mystery as he had told her to—the only thing he felt at the moment was something unpleasantly similar to immense relief; she was unharmed. He scowled slightly to himself. Really, wouldn't it be fitting for this tiny worm to undergo some form of punishment for being so troublesome? Yes, he decided, it would. He would make her pay for ending up in this stupid situation, but that could wait. For now, the current situation simply needed to be dealt with. He untied the girl from the chair, letting the ropes slip off her body.

Yako stood quickly, freeing herself from the loosened tangle of ropes.

"Neuro!" Her voice was quiet. All she wanted to do at the moment was cry, but she held back her tears; she was sure Neuro was going to punish her for this, and she decided that showing further weakness would only make her punishments greater. She wanted to cry, but she didn't. She watched as Neuro called the police to alert them of the man's crime and presence.

The girl was silent on the way back towards the office, for the second time today feeling at a loss for words. Her lip trembled as she walked; the urge to burst out in tears had not dissipated. As any high school girl would be, Yako was upset and shaken from the night's events. She was not concentrating on where her feet were headed; she barely took notice of Neuro's harder-than-usual grip on her shoulder.

When they reached the office building, Neuro finally spoke again.

"It seems sending you out was useless, you limp bathroom rag. Even detrimental." The demon said dangerously. "Your worthlessness will not be forgotten, Yako. Do not be late tomorrow." With that, the demon released his hold on the girl's shoulder. He'd let her go home tonight. He'd let her go home and rest. Just this once.


	3. 03 Rainy Day

Author's Note: Woo! Third chapter already! I had no idea this would go so fast, or that I'd have so much motivation for this fanfiction. Thank you to everyone who has left me comments. All your support is really appreciated! As of yet, I still don't know exactly how long I'm going to make this, but it could be as long as 10 chapters. Maybe more if I end up continuing it further than I'm planning right now. But I won't disclose any more than that! I hope you enjoy the third chapter!

--

The moment Neuro had left her alone, Yako let herself cry. She sobbed all the way home, so that once she arrived, she had cried out all her tears and regained most of her composure. She didn't want to be questioned by her mother; after all, how would she explain herself? Yako's precautions proved unnecessary, however, as her mother turned out to be asleep already.

Without even bothering to eat (somehow, she had lost her appetite,) the girl plopped down on her bed immediately after reaching her room. With a long, relieved sigh, she drifted quickly off to sleep.

Yako slept soundly all through the night and into the day, far past noon. She probably would have slept longer, too, if it had not been for her mother waking her up.

"Yako," said Katsuragi Haruka, shaking her daughter gently awake. "Yako, wake up."

The girl grumbled slightly, but pushed herself to her elbows.

"Huh…Mom?" mumbled Yako sleepily. "What time is it?"

"Yako, did you miss school?" Yako's mother looked worried. "Are you feeling all right? It's already 4:30."

Upon hearing the time, Yako shot up quickly, throwing her blankets from herself.

"Crap! This is bad!" She shrieked suddenly. _Neuro's going to kill me…!_ Realizing that her mother was still looking at her worriedly, she calmed herself down. "Ah…yeah. I'm fine, Mom. Just overslept, I guess."

"Ok, if you say so," Haruka raised an eyebrow in suspicion; she suspected her daughter was sick. She stood up, crossing the room. She stopped at the doorway before leaving. "Call me if you need anything, ok?"

Yako smiled.

"Sure thing, Mom. Thanks."

Once her mother had left, Yako got out of bed quickly. She bit her lip. What should she do? She was late, and it wouldn't be forgiven, she was sure. She realized that she was still in her day clothes from the night before. Well, since she was already late, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to be a bit later, so she could at least take a bath and have a meal. Stumbling somewhat sleepily into the bathroom, she stripped herself of her clothes and began to shower. By the time she had sunk into the warm, comforting bath water, Yako was already feeling more relaxed. Sighing with content, she leaned back, closing her eyes. She smiled as she thought of what she'd prepare herself to eat.

When she had finished her bath, she stood and stretched, draining the water in the tub.

"Ahh, I feel so refreshed!" She said to herself as she pulled on her clothes. "But so hungry…"

Yako made her way to the kitchen and began to prepare herself a large meal. She hummed happily as she did so; perhaps, she reasoned, if she was able to forget last night's events, things wouldn't be so bad. It was then that Neuro's words echoed to her inside her head. _Do not forget anything. By not forgetting, you evolve._ She sighed. Well, she supposed, remembering that incident would do her one good thing, at least; she would never fall for something like that again. She shuddered to herself even now as she thought of, in hindsight, how stupid she had been. But she shrugged to herself and forced herself to smile once more. She needn't forget about it; simply not think of it.

Haruka had been in the sitting room watching TV when she heard a knock on the door. Snapping off the TV, she stood and opened it to find a tall, friendly-smiling person standing before her.

"Ah! You're Yako's assistant, are you not?"

"I sure am. Is Sensei here?" inquired Neuro, his eyes full of innocence and lacking the malicious intent he held behind them.

"She is," answered Haruka. "Do you need something from her?"

"Well, you see, Miss, Sensei told me to come and get her." Neuro told the woman, still smiling. "She said if I wasn't on time, she'd kill me!"

Finding the second half of Neuro's statement rather strange, Haruka shrugged it off and moved out of the doorway to allow Neuro inside.

"Very well then, please come in."

"Pardon me for intruding."

Yako was just starting to eat the food piled up on numerous plates surrounding her at the table when she looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway and—she gulped, swallowing a bit too much food at once—Neuro standing innocently behind the woman.

"Yako! Your assistant is here to pick you up." said Haruka cheerily; clearly, Yako could tell, her mother could not see the sadistic intent behind Neuro's façade.

"That's right, Sensei!" Neuro added good-naturedly, making his way over to Yako, who was still sitting at the table with a pair of chopsticks. The demon grabbed the girl's shoulders with both of his hands, and Yako was sure she could feel spines protruding into her from Neuro's grip. "So, let's go! You told me we mustn't be late, right?"

Yako was not about ready to give up her meal just yet.

"But, Neuro—!" she began, but she was interrupted as the demon jerked her to her feet.

"That's not fair, Sensei! You told me work is more important than food today," Neuro leaned over the girl's shoulders to glare at her, his eyes glowing dangerously as he exposed his fangs only to her. "_isn't that right?"_

Catching Neuro's more-than-obvious threat, Yako loosened her grip on her chopsticks in defeat.

"Yes, yes, of course." said Yako, throwing one last look of longing at her un-eaten food before she was dragged to the front door.

Haruka hurried forward and handed her daughter an umbrella, opening the door for the two.

"Here, take this, it's raining."

And indeed it was, Yako saw as they started towards the office. Rather hard, too. Unfortunately for her, Neuro had yanked away the umbrella the moment they were out of sight from her home. She was being poured on, and her clothes were already soaked. She tried to get the umbrella back from her demon companion, but as he was much taller than her, he simply held it out of reach.

"This is part of your punishment, you sickly parasite." Neuro informed her as they walked, holding a clawed hand over her face to prevent her from jumping at the umbrella; he did not seem at all bothered by the rain, himself. "Your silly little escapade has wasted my valuable energy and time. I am debating whether I should've rescued you in the first place."

The girl gave up her struggles for the umbrella; it was useless now, anyways. She was already sopping wet. Despite what Neuro had just said, Yako could tell that the demon was still in a better mood than usual, and quite energetic from their visit to Hell. The girl's curiosity brought up a question at this thought.

"Hey, Neuro, tell me…if you can get yourself to Hell and back, why don't you just do that when you're weak and need to heal?"

Neuro pushed Yako down into a puddle of muddy-looking water and used her as a bridge to cross it, stepping indifferently across her back as if she were just another stretch of pavement (so much for a bath and clean clothes.) He ignored her shout of "Hey, you're heavy!" and proceeded to answer her question.

"I do not expect you to understand, with that molecule-sized brain of yours, but I shall explain. To put it very simply, transporting myself to Hell takes a lot of energy in itself. If I do not have enough energy to get there, I am stuck in the human world until I regain enough energy to do so."

Yako had pushed herself back up to her feet and caught up to Neuro again, feeling pitiful for being glad that Neuro had said "molecule-sized" instead of "atom-sized."

"Ah, so that's how it is." She said. She then grinned teasingly. "Even you have limitations, huh, Neuro?"

Clearly, Neuro did not appreciate Yako's teasing comment, for immediately upon hearing it he grabbed the girl by the head and twisted her neck painfully.

Upon reaching the office, Yako found that when they had entered, Neuro's clothes were already dry from the rain still pounding outside. Her own, unfortunately, were still heavy with water.

"Hey, Neuro, how did you do that?" asked Yako intently.

"Who do you think I am?" Neuro raised an eyebrow at the girl. He crossed the room and sat himself down in his usual spot behind his desk, tossing the folded umbrella aside. "That was a simple trick."

"If it's so simple, then do that to mine as well," said a now cold Yako; the building was air conditioned, and the cool air blew against her wet clothes, making her give a slight shiver.

"No."

"I could catch a cold like this, you know."

"Then so be it." Neuro smirked devilishly at the girl. "If you really want me to, I shall dry your clothes for you. However, this involves rapidly boiling the water they have obtained and thus, as the clothes are flush with your body, this may scald your weak human skin…"

"I'll pass," Yako told him quickly, shaking her head.

"Fine, then." said Neuro, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands over his midriff. He closed his eyes and fell asleep slowly; he only required 3 hours of sleep daily, and although he was plenty tired enough and had time last night to sleep after he had sent Yako home, he had found, for a reason unknown to him, that sleep just simply would not come.

As the shivering Yako finally found that the demon was asleep, she took the time to step into a small closet in the office to ring out her wet clothes. It was small and filled with boxes, but there was enough room for her to stand. She took off her clothes and twisted them tightly, letting most of the water drip out. As she put them back on, they were still damp, but at least they were no longer soaked.

When she left the closet, Yako had nothing else to do but sit. Planting herself down on the couch facing the windows, she smoothed out her skirt and looked across the room at the sleeping Neuro. She smiled softly at his peaceful expression. Really, when Neuro was asleep, it was hard to tell that he was a sadistic demon from Hell. Yako watched him for several moments before a wet Godai burst into the office, slamming open the door and giving Yako quite a start (surprisingly, Neuro did not wake up.) She turned around to greet Godai and found that he was carrying several bags of food.

The former-Yakuza hurried into the room and set down the bags on the table in front of Yako.

"That monster…" he began, "I heard from him…he told me what happened."

"Ah, that…well, it's over now anyways, isn't it?" said Yako, waving her hand like it was nothing. She eyed the bags of food.

"Didn't I tell you to be careful, you shitty brat?!" snapped Godai, looking, if possible, angrier than usual. He noticed her gazing at the food he had brought. "Go ahead, help yourself. I figured you'd be hungry."

Yako beamed, grabbing the bags and digging into them.

"Thank you, Mr. Godai!" She said cheerily, her mouth already full of food.

"Well, I didn't use _my_ money to buy it, so it's no problem." mumbled Godai. "In any case…I hate hanging around here, so…see ya."

Yako waved to the man as he left the office, leaving her alone was again with only the sounds of rain against the windows and Neuro's deep breathing. _Godai really is a good person,_ Yako told herself as she opened packages and stripped wrappers off of breads and snacks, shoveling them into her mouth. _Neuro, not so much…_ She stopped eating for a moment. It was Neuro who had rescued her last night, wasn't it? Neuro who had saved her life on countless occasions (even though for most of them it had been his fault she'd been in the way of harm in the first place.) Shrugging to herself, she continued eating the food Godai had brought, until there was nothing left of it.

Once she had finished off the food, Yako was once again left with nothing to do. After a few moments she stood up and began to quietly pace the office, growing impatient with her boredom. It was then that she realized that she had not thanked Neuro for rescuing her. She bit her bottom lip. She decided she would wait for the demon to awaken on his own before trying to thank him.

A few more minutes of pacing, however, made Yako grow even more impatient. She stopped and looked at the demon. It did not seem that Neuro was going to awaken any time soon, and as Yako was a generally good and polite person, the desire to thank him was growing by the second. Squirming on the spot, the girl debated with herself. If she woke him up, he would possibly be annoyed at her for ending his nap. But she did not feel she could wait any longer. Her decision was made.

Yako quietly walked up to Neuro's soundly sleeping form, leaning over him. Looking closely at the sleeping demon, her face inches from his, Yako could hardly fathom that this person, who looked now so benign, calm, and untroubled, was the same person who bullied and beat up on her daily. When he was asleep and not trying to kill her, she decided, he almost looked…cute? She shook her head of the thought; that was unimportant now. She needed to thank him. Yako reached out her hand to shake him awake, but she stopped with her hand on his arm. Was this really a good idea?

Before she was able to make a decision, however, the demon's green eyes shot open.

"What is it, Servant Number One?" He softly inquired, his eyes clearly displaying the message: This had better be important, slug.

Yako jumped slightly when Neuro awoke so suddenly, and she backed up about a foot or so.

"Um, well, Neuro…thank you." She muttered, smiling softly. "For last night, I mean."

Neuro was quiet for several long seconds, in which the only noise between them was the splatter of the heavy rain. He looked almost confused, as if he didn't know how to react. The strange moment passed, however, and his fanged mouth curled into one of his usual frightening smiles. Grabbing the girl by the head, he roughly slammed her face into the floor.

"That is all very well," He told her. "So in that case, if you understand, do not cause any more trouble, you low animal."


	4. 04 Wednesday

The rest of the day passed in melancholy; no customers came in, Neuro was his usual abusive self, and poor Yako had to just deal with it. Little did she know that the demon was actually quite confused. He did not understand his own actions; what was that moment of hesitation back there? He pondered over this for several hours before he settled on that he was simply surprised to find that he had such a polite servant. Neuro let Yako leave at the usual time, and instructed her to be back—on time this round—tomorrow.

Yako almost expected Neuro to bother her at school, and thus she was quite surprised when he didn't. The rain had slowed to a fine drizzle, so she did not bother with an umbrella on the way to school, nor as she hurried to the office in the afternoon. When she opened the door, she found Godai sitting, looking quite agitated (evidently Neuro had called him back, possibly due to boredom, during Yako's absence,) with his feet up on his desk, but no Neuro. He wasn't here.

The girl soon found that her assumption was incorrect, however, when the demon came swinging down from the ceiling, knocking her clear out through the door with his foot as he righted himself with the earth's gravity.

"You're late again," scolded Neuro with a smirk as Yako dragged herself back into the room.

"What? No, I'm not! Look at the clock!"

He did.

"I see. So you were right." But the demon did not sound as if he hadn't known. Possibly, he had simply wanted to kick the girl.

Yako plopped herself down on the couch and set her school bag on the floor, pulling out several books, a few pieces of paper, and a pencil; she set the supplies on the table.

"In any case, Neuro…I have homework today, so don't bother me." She said, flipping through one of the books until she found her page. Quadratic equations. Just great. She hated those.

Ten minutes into her assignment, and Yako had only solved one of the equations; albeit poorly. Godai had turned on the TV and was watching some loud show, making it nearly impossible for Yako to concentrate. She groaned quietly to herself in frustration. Neuro was watching her with interest, grinning as if appreciating her distress. After a few more moments of watching the girl, Neuro stepped over to Godai and snatched away the remote.

Yako looked up. Was it possible? He was planning on helping her out? However, the girl's delusions were easily crushed when the demon sat down on the couch and simply switched the channel.

"Hey, I was watching that, asshole!" Yako heard Godai yell, but Neuro ignored him.

Although a part of Yako was secretly happy that Neuro had chosen a seat on the same couch as her, the majority of her was simply annoyed; as of yet, she had only solved that one equation.

"Neuro! I need to get this done, you know!" She complained. "I'll fail the class. The TV is distracting me, so can't you—"

Neuro shoved his hand into the girl's mouth to shut her up. Fortunately for her, he hadn't formed it into any dangerous, clawed instruments.

"Perhaps if your brain was at a higher level than a goldfish's, you would have finished your tedious work already." He said, not even bothering to look at her as he continued to watch the TV screen.

Yako gave up; she'd just have to do this tonight when she got home. Grabbing Neuro's arm and prying it out of her mouth, she sputtered as she caught her breath again, glad she had not suffocated.

"But, Neuro," said the girl, her voice much calmer now after she had recognized her defeat. "What are you watching TV for, anyways?"

"News," He answered simply, pulling his hand away from her. "Since I cannot rely on your elementary skills to find me mysteries, I must find them myself."

"Ah, is that so…" Yako leaned back and watched the screen blankly. She debated asking Neuro for help with her homework later, but she reminded herself that the last time she had done so, it hadn't ended well. Godai's assistance was also out of the question, for he knew no more than Yako did.

About an hour later, both Godai and Yako were falling asleep from boredom. The dull sound of static and babbling voices from the TV made Yako's eyelids droop, and her thoughts began to wander. Most of the thoughts occupying her brain were dancing images of tasty foods; she had not eaten since lunch time. It was not long, however, before Yako's thoughts became dreams and she slid into unconsciousness, her head drooping and finally falling onto Neuro's shoulder. Had she been awake, she would most likely have considered herself legally dead.

Neuro glanced sideways at the girl, tearing his eyes away from the TV screen for the first time since he had sat down; he had to admit, it had caught him by surprise. Finding that Yako was asleep, however, he felt, for a reason unknown to him, slightly annoyed. He considered throwing her off him and into the bookshelf, but he decided against it; the motivation just wasn't there. Again, the demon was confused; this lowly, dirty servant had just touched him without permission, and yet he had no desire to hurl her away. He was finally forced to assume that the assault just was not irksome enough to demand attention and punishment. He watched the silent Yako for a moment, observing her slow, even breathing. She looked so delicate, as if she could break at any moment. Really, Neuro thought, humans were such terribly fragile creatures.

It was then that the unconscious Godai chose the moment to start snoring loudly. Out of spite, Neuro chucked the remote at him—it hit him square in the head, waking him up. The satisfied demon then returned his attentions to the TV.

"Look here, monster!" yelled Godai; finding the remote next to him, he assumed it was Neuro who had woke him up. "That fuckin' hurt, ya hear?"

When Godai did not get a response, he threw the remote at Neuro, aiming for his head, but the demon easily caught it without turning around to look.

"_Dammit!_" Godai swore, loud enough to rouse Yako from her nap.

"Huh…?" grumbled Yako, rubbing her eyes sleepily; her head was still leaning on Neuro's shoulder. It took the girl a moment to take note of her surroundings and circumstance, but when she finally did, her eyes widened and she quickly leapt from the couch, backing up several feet, out of Neuro's reach. "Ah…I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, I won't do it again!"

The demon ignored her.

Snapping off the TV and set the remote back down on the table, Neuro stood up and clapped once to get the attention of his two servants.

"We're going." He announced.

"Huh, where? And why?" asked Yako.

"Hell no." said Godai.

"Outside, of course." answered the demon simply. "This news is useless. Thus we are going out to observe the general human population. For reconnaissance purposes."

Yako gathered up her books, scooping them back into her bag and then lifting it over her shoulder.

"Well. As long as we can get something to eat."

Neuro grabbed Yako by the head and Godai by the shirt collar and dragged them outside. The drizzle of rain had finally stopped, leaving a gloomy gray cloud cover ahead. Neuro dragged his servants on the sidewalk behind him for a few blocks, but finally let them up to walk on their own when he noticed that the strange scene was turning heads. However there were not many people along the streets, and so when Yako suggested they stop in a Wireless Café, Neuro did not object.

"Hey, we can get something to eat too, right Neuro?" begged Yako, her eyes hopeful.

"Fine then," He agreed, smirking slightly. "You may use the office funds for this, seeing as currently we are in no need of any supplies...but be warned, little worm. For if, by any chance, we are in need of a piece of equipment, and the expense exceeds our funds by even one Yen…I shall see that it is your piggish appetite's fault, and the entirety of the expense will be indebted under your name."

Yako considered the threat for a moment, but finally came upon the decision that snacks were more important than potential debt. The intelligent part of her brain scorned her for this, but she ignored it. The atmosphere inside the café was quiet aside from the gentle sounds of people typing away at laptops, and so after Yako had ordered over half the items available and the group sat down at a table next to a window, she decided to try and work on her homework again.

Several cakes and cups of tea later, however, and this was proving impossible. She couldn't understand these problems, and although the noise was no longer a problem, Yako found it nearly impossible to concentrate with Neuro sneering at her from across the table. The girl was growing frustrated again. She wanted to tell the demon that if it was really worth watching her fail, he could use that concentration to help her out, but she stayed quiet; she wasn't going to invite disaster.

"Yo, Miss Katsuragi!" A certain Higuchi Yuuya called to the detective. He was carrying a notebook computer and wearing his usual green sweatshirt.

"Mr. Higuchi!" Yako had looked up from her work to greet him, smiling so she would not look displeased to see him.

Higuchi took a seat at a table next to the others' and ordered himself a coffee. He opened his laptop out of habit, but closed it again when he realized that what he was doing was slightly rude.

"So, Miss Katsuragi. You're doing all right, aren't you?" He asked, smiling at the girl across the two tables.

Yako opened her mouth to answer, but she suddenly thought of something. Higuchi could help her! And Yako was sure that he, unlike Neuro, would readily agree to.

"Hey, Mr. Higuchi, will you help me out?" She asked politely.

"Eh, with what?"

Yako held up her book.

Higuchi had to resist a laugh.

"Sure, that's the easy stuff. Come over here and I'll show you."

"Yay!" Yako cheered and smiled as she gathered up her books and switched tables, sticking out her tongue at Neuro as she passed him, as if to say "ha!" She pulled up a chair beside Higuchi and showed him where she was to begin.

Neuro, evidently having forgotten about his original purpose here, glared silently at the two with a mixture of interest, spite, and irritation. Yako was laughing and Higuchi was smiling as he assisted the girl with her studies, chatting all the while. Neuro's eyebrow furrowed. What was that boy doing, acting as if he owned Yako; that pesky human had borrowed his servant without permission. Yako belonged to him and no one else. And the disloyal, ungrateful little girl seemed to have no problem with being snatched away from her _true_ owner. She would have to be punished. Punished until had no doubts in her mind that she was _his_. The demon did not know what to call this feeling, but he supposed it was a sort of agitation or annoyance.

However, Neuro wasn't the only one with negative feelings; sitting in a chair that used to be beside Yako, Godai was grinding his fist angrily into the table, muttering things like "Dammit," and "Little fucker could've asked me."

With Higuchi's help, Yako was able to complete her entire assignment within no time.

"Thank you, Mr. Higuchi!" squealed the girl, smiling with satisfaction and accomplishment as she packed up her books.

"Don't mention it." replied Higuchi, grinning back at her. A quiet, beeping alarm wrung, and the boy looked down at his wrist watch. He quickly stood up, lifting his computer and pushing in his chair. "Sorry, Miss Katsuragi, but, I've really got to get going. Usui, you know…"

Yako nodded in understanding.

"That's too bad. See you, then!" She called, waving as Higuchi headed towards the door.

"Definitely. Next time, you have to let me buy for you, though!" said Higuchi, stopping by the door for a split second to return Yako's wave.

Once the boy was out of site, Neuro spoke.

"I have seen enough human behavior today." He informed his two servants. "Let us return to the office."

Yako blinked curiously at the demon. It was uncharacteristic of him to throw in the towel so soon. But she wouldn't complain. Her work was done and she had had her fill of snacks.

"Well, fine by me, but could you let us walk all the way this ti—"

Yako's speech was cut off by the grip of Neuro's hand at her throat. Grabbing his second slave by the shirt again, the once again smiling demon dragged the two humans to the door and threw them out, following out behind them calmly and ignoring the shocked waitress. On the way back to the office, Neuro dangled Yako from a street lamp over moving traffic three times, and kicked her into remaining puddles from the rain several times more.

The rest of Yako's day—and Godai's as well, for that matter—was horrid. The demon roughed her up and tortured her even more than yesterday, if possible, and the poor girl had no idea what she had done to invoke this extra punishment. By the time she gingerly stepped out of the office that Wednesday evening, Yako was surprised that she was still alive and breathing.

--

Author's Note: Unimportant, but does anyone else get sleepy with the noise of a TV in the background, or am I just weird? Anyways, on a slightly more important note: the next few chapters should be a bit more action-y, but over this weekend I may not be able to update daily. I apologize for that.


	5. 05 Preparing for the Banquet

"Tell me again, Yako, why I must wear this ridiculous thing?" Neuro shot his servant a look that showed that he demanded a quality explanation—or else. He was currently in a low-key shop being fitted for a yukata by a quiet young woman, an employee of the place. He was, of course, accompanied by Yako.

Yako stepped back a few feet as to remove herself from the demon's arms' radius, just to be safe.

"It's a festival, Neuro. You don't wear a suit." She explained, for perhaps the third or fourth time that day.

"And why not?"

"Because—" Yako struggled to find a reason that would be suitable for Neuro. "You'll stick out."

Neuro made a disapproving noise, but he smiled blankly nevertheless.

"Very well. I shall trust your judgment, but if by any chance you are lying, Servant Number One…" He let his sentence trail off and held up his hand; he needn't form it into a clawed instrument to get the picture clear (and perhaps he didn't as to not show his true form to the silent woman dressing him.)

Yako was sure that if he hadn't been in the process of being measured and tied up with pins, the demon would've thwacked her a good one on the head, just to get his point across.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." said Yako dispiritedly, holding up her hands as a futile offering of peace. "In any case, both Godai and I will be wearing one too, so no need to worry."

Once Neuro was finished being measured, an over-excited, smiling Yako picked out a floral pattern for the demon. Her choice resulted in most of the fabric she had picked up being shoved down her throat. (The poor woman who was serving them simply stood awkwardly off to the side, still quiet before her strange customers' behavior.) Yako, not at all discouraged, chose a simple red geometric design for Neuro instead, and this time he did not complain.

The two paid, also getting a pair of geta(1) for Neuro, and walked out, Yako carrying the shopping bag, of course. Contrary to the previous two days, the sky was now a clear blue and Yako, excitedly eager for the festival tomorrow, was displaying a rather cheerful attitude, despite the extensive torture Neuro had administrated yesterday.

"Ahh, I'm so glad!" cheered the girl, stretching her arms in the air happily. "I was beginning to worry it'd be raining tomorrow…"

Neuro took hold of Yako's arms and twisted them behind her back painfully.

"Indeed. I shall finally get to eat my mystery, no thanks to you, larva." He said, grinning as condescendingly as always. "Perhaps I would not be so hungry currently if you had not been so incompetent earlier this week."

Yako didn't let the insult bother her, and she even considered apologizing for her failure, but as her body brought her mind to the attention of the pain she was in—Neuro was still holding her arms contorted strangely behind her—and she decided against it. She figured it would only encourage more punishment, and so the rest of the way back to the office she kept silent, trying to simply enjoy the nice weather.

Godai, who had been told "Mind the office." by Neuro when he and Yako had left that morning, greeted the two with a scowl as they came through the door.

"Find the yukata you needed for the monster?" He asked casually, throwing Neuro a hateful glare. "I bet he'd look like a—ghack!"

The smiling demon rammed Godai's face into the surface of his desk to end his speech, and it proved rather effective; Neuro's second servant chose not to continue with his line of speech. The former-Yakuza immediately regretted egging the demon on in the first place. Godai moodily scrambled out the door again, cursing to himself.

After Yako had set the shopping bag down next to Neuro's bright red desk, she went to her own desk to pull out a large lunch box that she had ingeniously remembered to bring with her this time. Yako emptied and devoured the contents of the lunchbox quickly, leaving her slightly less hungry and even more cheerful than before. Neuro was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, although it was evident that he wasn't asleep, due to the half-smirk that played across his face. Wondering what the demon was thinking of, Yako idly watched him as she swung her legs in her chair childishly in anticipation. Although he wouldn't let on to it, Neuro was just as excited as Yako was for the festival tomorrow, even if his excitement _was_ due to a different reason than his servant's. He was hungry.

Suddenly, Yako remembered something. She doubted her request would be granted, but she decided to try anyways.

"Oh, hey Neuro?" She asked hopefully. "Tomorrow…can Kanae come along too?"

"Kanae?" Neuro opened his eyes again.

"My friend."

No sooner than the words had come out had Neuro reached forward to topple the girl's chair over backward, sending her to the floor.

"It would be a hindrance." He scolded threateningly, grinning at Yako's fearful shriek. "What are you thinking, louse? The purpose of this little trip tomorrow is merely for my hunger's sake; I do not need more humans than necessary holding me down."

Yako looked slightly annoyed for a moment, pouting slightly.

"Akane, then?"

The braid twitched enthusiastically.

"Fine, then. Seeing as she is the most useful around here, her presence will not obstruct."

_I'm losing to hair again,_ Yako realized, and she felt a twinge of something that, if she didn't know better, she would have called jealousy. Nevertheless, she was happy that at least she'd be able to bring _some_ sort of friend along. Yako did not have much time to dwell on her thoughts, however, for the office door opened, and for a moment, it looked like no one had entered. But then Yako looked downward to see a little boy enter in a considerably timid manner. He couldn't have been more than seven years old, and his eyes looked red as if he'd been crying.

"Um…Katsuragi Yako-sensei!" called the little boy. He was clutching a photo to his chest. He thrust it out to show the detectives; a tuxedo-patterned cat was depicted sitting atop a windowsill. "Um…will you please help me? My kitty. She ran away…I can't find her. Will you investigate to find her?"

Before Yako had a chance to speak, Neuro replied for her.

"I'm terribly sorry, but Sensei is awfully busy," He said, standing up to start shooing the little boy from the office.

The kid, however, did not seem so eager to give up.

"But! My kitty has—!"

Neuro cut him off.

"Did you hear me, child?" He asked dangerously, leaning down to look at the little boy. Whatever expression was on his face (Yako could not see it, for he was turned away from her,) made the small boy cringe in fright, back away, and start crying.

Immediately, Yako rushed forward and knelt down and placed her hand on the child's shoulder.

"Uhh, don't cry!" She quickly said, keeping her voice gentle. "Here, if your kitty is still missing by this weekend, come back and I'll help you make 'Lost Cat' signs, ok?"

Yako glared at Neuro as if to say "Take that!" but the boy didn't catch her triumphant look as he rubbed his eyes.

"O-Ok…" he muttered, forcing himself to smile. "Thanks, Miss Katsuragi!"

When the boy had left, Yako looked up at Neuro with an annoyed glare.

"Neuro! He was just a little kid!"

The demon clamped his hand over the girl's head and used her face to slam the office door shut.

"And you're just a little tsetse fly. There is no mystery involved in that child's missing pet."

Rubbing her stinging nose, Yako gave up her argument with a sigh and went to sit on the couch; she couldn't expect Neuro to understand. Sometimes, she doubted he even comprehended that he was being cruel. In her annoyance, Yako did not notice that instead of return to his desk, Neuro took a seat beside her as he had done yesterday. However, it wasn't a decision the demon had debated over; it was simply the closest seat in the room at the time. Yes. That is what he told himself.

Yako's mood improved once again throughout that day, and by the time she went home that evening, she was once again filled with excitement. Despite what Neuro had said about the purpose of going to the festival, she wasn't going to let him ruin her day tomorrow. She'd let him have his mystery, of course, but she wasn't going to give up on having a good time. With thoughts of food and games and fireworks in her head, Yako fell asleep only to wake up much too early. It was a bad habit, depriving herself of sleep when she was excited, but that didn't stop her. At least she had time to have a nice bath and eat a large breakfast before school. She came back home only briefly to tell her mother where she was going.

Already dressed in her yukata, a sky-blue cherry blossom patterned garment, Yako left home and headed off towards the office to meet Neuro. Oddly enough for her, she arrived about thirty minutes earlier than she'd been instructed to. When she opened the door, however, there was no one inside, apart from Akane dangling from the wall.

"Akane-chan,(2)" called Yako after scanning the corners of the ceiling to make sure that this time she was correct in assuming Neuro was not present. "Do you know where Neuro went?"

The braid of hair had no time to pick up a marker to respond though, before the demon materialized beside Yako and stuck out a foot, tripping her and sending her to the floor.

"You are certainly here early, Servant Number One." commented Neuro, looking the girl over. He had never seen her in such an outfit before. It was certainly…different.

"Ow, ow, ow…" Yako muttered, pushing herself to her feet. She noticed that Neuro as well was already dressed for the festival, but she could not resist a giggle. "Um, Neuro…you're wearing that wrong."

Neuro raised an eyebrow.

"How so?" He asked, knocking his servant over the head simply for pointing out his mistake.

"Here, the left side goes over the right," explained Yako, pointing to the way she was wearing her own. "Only corpses wear it the other way around."

Although Neuro allowed Yako to fix it for him, he sneered at her, showing his line of pointed teeth.

"I suppose I will soon have to switch yours, then."

"No, thank you," replied Yako, for the most part ignoring the demon's comment; as she had decided earlier, she wasn't going to let him ruin her day, and besides. For her, casual death threats such as these were a normal occurrence. She stepped back and blinked. "It suits you."

Clearly, Neuro did not know how to respond to any sort of compliment, for he just ignored the girl and sat down to wait. Yako attached Akane to her phone, and soon, she was anxiously pacing the office again. Neuro did not have time to reprimand her for it, though, because Godai came bursting through the door, for once looking less ticked off than usual. Perhaps he too, like Yako, was happy to be able to do something fun for once. Yako stopped pacing; now that all of them were present, they were ready to go. She was practically bouncing with anticipation.

"Ah, I forgot something." Yako crossed the room to Neuro's chair and came up behind him, smiling.

Without even a second's hesitation, she began to tie his hair up in a ponytail. Normally, perhaps, she wouldn't have dared touch Neuro, but at the moment, she was too excited, too _happy_ to question her actions.

"And what is this for, worm?" Neuro asked.

"Just for fun." answered Yako.

Luckily for her, the demon did not resist, nor seem to have a problem with what Yako had done. Once again, the girl had touched him, and he did not object. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Neuro vaguely wondered why; he supplied himself with the reason that objecting would only waste time and simply push his meal away from him for longer.

He stood.

"Well then, shall we go, my servants?"

--

(1): Geta refers to a form of Japanese sandals traditionally worn with a yukata.

(2): Although I've replaced most of the Japanese honorifics with their English equivalent in this story (-san Miss/Mr., etc.) for -chan I don't think there really is one, so I will be leaving it as-is.

Author's Note: Ok, so this chapter wasn't as action-y as I had said, but the next one will be, I promise you! (And by the way, the little boy DOES come back later, though I won't tell you how.) I'd also like to apologize that it took me a little bit longer to update this time! Last night I was planning on finishing this chapter, but I was reeeaally tired and making several typos…so I decided to wait to finish it until today. Also, I gotta tell you I'm not really satisfied with this chapter, but I've played around with it too much already, so I hope it turns out to be ok.

EDIT: The end part of this chapter has been changed very slightly. (Dialogue added.)


	6. 06 Dinner is Served

Author's Note: Before you read, I just want to say that I am terribly, terribly, TERRIBLY sorry for taking so long to release this chapter. Really, I am. It didn't even take that long to write… Just, this past weekend I've been extremely busy, and I've been having a pretty bad week so far, for several reasons. I'm so sorry it took so long. Please forgive me.

--

Neuro, Yako, and Godai had to walk to the festival, as oh-so-unreliable Servant Number Two hadn't produced a new car for them to use. The poor man was severely punished because of this on the way there, and the demon saw to it that it just wouldn't be fair if he abused only one of his servants, and so Yako was able to appreciate the full effects of Neuro's torture as well. By the time they arrived, it was already dusk, and Yako's feet were already tired from walking, but she wasn't about to let it bother her.

Upon their arrival, they could see that the place was already rather crowded, bustling with activity and shouts of laughter. The beat of drums could be heard, and multicolored lights shone down on the scene. There were countless games and displays, both Traditional and Western.

Eager to get away, Godai tramped off immediately, grinning provocatively once he was out of reach from Neuro.

"Smell you later, shitty monster!" He called, disappearing into the crowd.

The first thing Yako noticed, of course, was the smell of various foods. The fact that there were so many to try brought a droplet of drool to the edge of her lips. She wiped it away and quickly brought her attentions back, however, when she noticed Neuro was already walking away through the scores of cheerful people.

"Hey, wait up!" called the girl, running to catch up with the demon. She eventually reached his side again and slowed to a walk. "Neuro…don't tell me, you're already looking for that mystery of yours?"

Neuro grinned down at Yako, and the girl could tell that smile was full of malice.

"No," answered the demon simply. "It seems we have time to play. Would you like to catch goldfish, Yako? You can be the goldfish, if you want. I can use a barbed ladle to impale you. Though I'm not sure the fish in the basin will appreciate being shoved along with the likes of a creature so below them…"

"I refuse," said Yako flatly, taking a step away from Neuro. In reality, she was quite glad that the demon had—essentially—granted her permission to do what she wanted for the time being. "But, it was a good idea to begin with, without the twists, I mean… But first! I'm hungry…"

The girl turned quickly to a food-stand and purchased several snacks. Her arms laden with them, she made her way back to Neuro, who seemed to be observing the crowd.

Yako handed something to him.

"Here, I bought a lot so they give me one for free. You can have it," She offered.

The demon looked oddly at the food and then at Yako.

"Hmm," He clamped a hand over the girl's head painfully. "I don't eat human food, louse, only mysteries. You should know that by now."

"I get it, I get it," Yako quickly responded, squirming away from Neuro. "More for me, then."

As she began to eat, Yako looked out over the crowds. She idly noticed that there were quite a few couples, it seemed—holding hands and smiling. She found herself thinking that it would've been nice if _she_ could have come here with a guy; it was all because of Neuro that she couldn't. She stopped her train of thought for a moment—Neuro himself _was_ a guy. But no, she convinced herself, glancing sideways once at her companion, he just didn't count. Besides, she told herself, he didn't think of her as a girl, either. And he wasn't even human.

It didn't occur to Yako, however, that the demon was observing the crowds as well, and wondering to himself what that little twinge was; he likened it to that agitated annoyance he had felt that Wednesday, for only one difference: The sprinkle of anger was not there this time. And this time, he had no excuse to give to himself, no explanation for what it was. The word 'hungry' came to mind, and it was quite peculiar, because he was not thinking of mysteries. A different kind of hunger? He shrugged it off.

When Yako had finished eating, (This involved stopping by several other food stands, as the snacks from her first stop lasted less than a minute,) the two went on to play some games, and perhaps win some prizes. Neuro merely followed his servant around for the most part; these games, that Yako seemed to be enjoying immensely, did not involve the roughing up or torturing of his servants, and thus they had little to no interest to him. The demon did, however, try his hand on a game that involved the shooting down of moving images depicting cute, fluffy creatures of some sort.

Yako, for the most part, was having quite a lot of fun, despite the fact that Neuro insisted on "joining in" on the games by harassing her. The girl perhaps would have caught and won a few goldfish if it had not been for the demon sticking his fingers in her eyes every time she tried to scoop one of the fish into her bowl, but she did her best to appreciate the game anyway. And despite Neuro's attempted interference, Yako ended up winning an adorable beanbag frog plush in another game that involved rolling colored marbles into holes of a matching color. Neuro had pushed the girl into a koi pond as she leaned over to look beneath the glossy surface of the water at the fish, but fortunately for her, the night was warm and her clothes dried relatively quickly; the fact that Yako's discomfort lasted so short seemed to displease the demon, and thus he did it again as they passed back by the pond.

"But…it's getting late, Neuro…" said Yako. "And no mystery has shown up, has it?"

The demon knocked on the girl's head as if it were empty.

"My senses don't lie, worm." Neuro informed her. "Who do you think I am?"

"And it looks like it's going to rain again." Yako added sadly, glancing upward towards the dark, once again clouded, sky.

"Hmm? Why are you so anguished about that, servant?"

"I've already been soaked twice tonight." The girl shot a glare at her companion.

"Oh? It shouldn't matter. If it really bothers you, then we could always hang you up to dry…" Neuro grabbed Yako by the shoulders and threw her, landing her up in a tree about thirty-five feet off the ground. This would have been impossible for a human, but Neuro, after all, is not human. "Like this."

Yako muffled her scream as she propelled through the air, and perhaps she would have yelled at Neuro if the wind hadn't been knocked out of her when she smacked into a large limb on the tree. She scrambled to get a hold of it to prevent herself from falling, and then caught her breath.

"Hey! I could've died, you know!" She called downward, causing several passersby to look up in puzzlement.

"Tch. It is a shame you didn't," scoffed the demon, kicking the base of the tree. The vibrating shudder that went up the trunk shook Yako off balance, sending her falling quickly towards the earth again. She screamed again. Neuro, of course, caught the girl before she hit the ground, and although she was shaking with fear, he still cackled. "Not yet, little worm, I still need your services."

Yako, finding herself so close to Neuro that she could hear and even feel his warm heartbeat, felt her cheeks grow hot. She quickly attributed this to embarrassment because of the people watching, and made an attempt to distance herself from the demon. Her attempt was unneeded, however, for Neuro pushed the girl off him and violently into the ground. Yako stood up, slightly disgruntled, and brushed the dirt off of herself. A part of her was, however, happy that Neuro had said that, in some way, he needed her. She smiled to herself at this as she caught up with Neuro again, (for he was already walking away,) even though she knew she should be angry. After all, if he hadn't caught her, she could've been killed or at least severely hurt. Well, she reminded herself, he _had _caught her.

After that Yako insisted on seeing a performance of dancers, and lucky for her, Neuro's mystery had not turned up yet, and so the demon did not object. As she watched, Yako noticed Godai up in the front row drooling over one of the female dancers. She giggled to herself. She noticed that Neuro was grinning, as he had evidently noticed his second servant's presence as well, although she thought to herself that the demon's humor most likely resided in using Godai's lecherous tendency to somehow blackmail him later. When the performance was finished, Yako figured that after falling nearly forty feet, she needed a snack. They visited two more food stands, and Yako was in the process of going towards a third when Neuro stopped her by grabbing the collar of her yukata and pulling her back.

The demon was smiling.

"Sensei, I want to eat over there." said Neuro innocently, pointing to a ramen stand not far away from the stand the girl had originally chosen; the owner of said first food stand glared at Neuro in annoyance that he had potentially just lost him a customer.

Yako looked at Neuro in puzzlement.

"Eh? I thought you said you didn't eat human food," She protested, raising an eyebrow.

"Then we can't?" Neuro pouted slightly, giving Yako a puppy dog-eyes look.

"Ah, no, no, I mean of course we'll go to that one." The girl assured him; she knew that look well.

The demon bent down slightly to whisper darkly in his servant's ear.

"The smell of the mystery has thickened, Yako," He told Yako, pushing her into a seat outside the ramen stand.

Yako opened her mouth to inquire more, but Neuro clamped a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.

"Simply eat as you would and wait, you pig." The demon ordered.

Yako nodded, not reacting to Neuro's insult. She ordered herself several bowls of food and sat back with a sigh to wait for it to be served to her. She idly wondered whether she'd actually get to eat it or not, seeing as whatever mystery awaited them might interrupt. She felt a tug on her sleeve and looked to her right.

"Um, could it be, that you're the piggish detective?!" A little girl, around nine years old or so, was looking up at Yako with shining eyes of interest.

_Piggish?_ "Yeah, that's me." Yako answered.

"I'm a big—no—huge fan of yours!" The girl said, taking a spoonful of noodles into her mouth. "You're amazing! How many bowls of food are you going to eat here? 50? 87? 1000?!"

A woman that seemed to be the girl's mother clamped a hand over the girl's mouth gently.

"You'll have to excuse our daughter's behavior," She said politely, glancing at a man beside her.

"Little Meri-chan sometimes says a bit too much," agreed the man sheepishly. He then turned to the girl's mother. "But I'm not her father, Hana, not yet. We get married next month."

"You're as good as one, Papa." Meri spoke up, released finally from her mother's hold on her. She looked back at Yako. "Can I have an autograph?"

"Meri!" The little girl's mother scolded.

"No, no, it's all right." Yako assured the fretting parent. "I'm used to it. If you've got a paper and pen, I'll gladly…"

Meri quickly held out a pen and a notepad, already flipped to a fresh page.

"Thank you, Miss Katsuragi!" squealed the little girl as Yako signed the paper and handed it back. "Thanks so much!"

"It was nothing," Yako said politely, smiling at the little girl.

Meri pocketed the notepad and pen and returned to her food for a moment before turning to Yako again.

"Is being a detective hard? Is it fun? Did you know that I want to be a detective too? It's because you're so cool!"

"Hard…well," Yako glanced sideways at Neuro tentatively. "You could say that. As for fun…it really depends."

"Is it scary when you have to see dead bodies?"

Yako laughed slightly.

"I'm almost used to it by now." _For reasons I'd rather not go into_, she thought, remembering her visit to Hell.

"That's so cool!"

"I don't know about that…" Yako shrugged. As she looked at the little girl and her parents, her eyes softened and she smiled nostalgically. "But…it must be really nice having complete family, huh…"

Perhaps Meri would have responded, but at that moment she was silent, her eyes glazed over. Yako looked strangely at the little girl, who seemed nonresponsive. Hana asked her daughter if she was all right, but by that time, the little girl had already slid to the floor, her eyes blank and staring into nowhere.

"Meri!"

"Hey, Meri, are you ok?!"

"Meri? Meri?! Meri! Someone call an ambulance!" Hana was shaking her daughter's shoulders, but the little girl's head simply flopped limply.

By the time the ambulance had arrived, Hana was sobbing and her soon-to-be husband was attempting vainly to comfort her. Luckily, the emergency personnel were able to revive Meri quickly on-sight, and when one of the doctor's stepped out of the ambulance, he showed a thumbs-up to assure Hana that everything was fine.

"She's going to be ok, Miss." The doctor said calmly. "She's alive, just unconscious."

Hana looked up, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Are you sure? My baby…she's all right?"

"I'm positive. She'll probably be up and thriving in about an hour. It seems she'd been poisoned, but she hasn't ingested enough for it to be anywhere near lethal."

"Thank goodness!"

"Poison, huh?" Neuro asked curiously, his face shining with fake innocence. He had dragged Yako over to the commotion and now had his hands on her shoulders. "But…who would want to poison a little girl?"

"Well, actually…" Hana said, trying to get control of her emotions. "Little Meri-chan's life has been targeted many times."

Neuro's eyes lit up with interest.

Just as Yako had suspected, she hadn't been able to eat her food.


	7. 07 Money

"Many times?"

"Yes, you see, Meri-chan's grandmother—my mother—died recently, and Meri's been left with a huge inheritance. My mother loved my daughter deeply, and she left all her money, which was quite a large sum, to Meri. We suspect it's family members targeting her…trying to get rid of her to somehow claim the money for themselves…" Hana explained.

"I see…" Neuro commented. "May I have a look at the old woman's will? Sensei says she'd like to see it."

Hana's soon-to-be husband pulled a piece of paper out of a pocket and handed it to Neuro quickly.

"Yes, here you go. I happen to have a copy of it with me."

"Thank you, sir." Neuro smiled innocently at the man and took the copy of the will. He then squeezed Yako's shoulders painfully. "Well then, Sensei, let us go look at the scene of the crime now…"

"Ow, ow, ow, Neuro, I'm going already!" Yako muttered under her breath in complaint.

When they arrived back at the ramen stand, however, there was someone already there, interrogating a rather discontented owner of the little stand.

"Mr. Sasazuka! When did you get here?" called Yako, hurrying over as Neuro pushed her.

Sasazuka Eishi, wearing a yukata like every other festival-goer, stopped in the middle of talking to the ramen-stand owner and looked up. He looked at Yako serenely but his eyes narrowed as they swept over Neuro.

"Ah, Yako-chan." He greeted her, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder and his partner. "This idiot dragged me along."

"That's mean, Senpai!" Ishigaki whined, pouting. "Even though I thought you'd have fun…. In any case! Why are _they_ here? Don't tell me you let them in again?!" He shot a glare at the two detectives.

"I don't see why not. It doesn't seem to be a very dangerous case, anyways."

While Ishigaki continued to grumble to Sasazuka, Yako gave a nervous laugh and stepped away; it was rather uncomfortable to be in the center of such controversy, especially when Ishigaki only made it worse by jumping down her throat whenever he saw her. Mainly out of curiosity, she looked over to what Neuro was doing. It seemed he had used his Evil Javelin, for he was examining a screen on his arm with his back turned to the scene.

"So? Her food…it was poisoned, right?" asked Yako.

"Indeed. Rat poison and a type of tranquilizer…" Neuro explained, reading the list of the compounds.

"Then…it has to be…the person who cooked the food, right?" The girl glanced behind her at the ramen-stand's distressed-looking owner.

The demon grinned and ground his knuckles into Yako's temples.

"How stupid." He asserted. "It is true that he was one of the few humans present at the time, however, the contents of this will provide information otherwise…you heard the words of the girl's mother, did you not?"

"Yes, yes, I heard her." Yako grumbled, pushing Neuro's hands away from herself and rubbing her skull gently. "Honestly, why do I even bother asking…?"

Neuro held the copy of the will in front of Yako briefly, just long enough for her to read the first few sentences, and then he swiped it quickly away again.

"Next in line after Meri, the inheritance goes to her mother." The demon told her.

"Then…her own mother?!" Yako was clearly shocked. "It couldn't have been…she was so concerned about little Meri-chan!"

"Truly, you _are_ a worthless little wood louse," griped Neuro. "However, you are correct, the mother is a suspect, although not a very likely one. Now, since your goldfish-brain is incapable of comprehending such simple things, be quiet and simply play your role, Yako."

Yako nodded. She knew better than to argue. However, she could not stop herself from feeling slightly sick; what she had thought was such a nice little family was trying to off itself from the inside out, just like Yuka's family had been. Money, Yako realized, truly did awful things to people. And yet she refused to believe that Meri's own mother would try to kill her. It just didn't fit. The concern, love, and worry that Yako had felt from Hana towards Meri was real. She could tell at least that much, whether Neuro was going to believe her or not.

Neuro, meanwhile, had returned his eyes to the copy of the will, scanning over it for perhaps the tenth time. Nothing must be missed. Looking closely at the details, Neuro took note of the fact that the money would not be transferred to Meri's name until the little girl turned eighteen, of course, and so until that time it would be held in a bank account under Hana's name.

"Let us go, Yako." The demon grabbed hold of the girl's head and began dragging her away from the crime scene.

"Eh? Where?" asked the girl, wincing as pressure was applied to her skull.

However, Yako did not receive her answer until she was plunked down in front of a still-teary-eyed Hana and her soon-to-be husband.

"Well then, you two, Sensei would like to ask you some questions," Neuro said cheerily, fake innocence sprawled across his face once more.

"Of course, of course." agreed Hana's fiancé readily. "Anything to catch the one who did this to Meri-chan."

"That's good to hear," chimed the demon. "Now then, Sensei here would like to know if there were any other family members present at the festival tonight."

"No, it's j-just us three," answered Hana slightly shakily, her eyes red from crying.

"I see," Neuro commented. "And have the number of apparent attempts at Meri-chan's life seemed to increase recently?"

"I…I would say they have, yes." Hana nodded intently.

"And the other times little Meri-chan has been targeted, who was present?" Neuro had to take care to conceal an excited grin.

"M-Mostly, again, just the three of us…" Hana continued sheepishly.

"Mostly?"

"Well…when she almost got hit by a car—and I'm sure it was no accident, that car—only I…was with her." Hana bit her lip, shifting uncomfortably. She was a suspect, now?

"But you couldn't possibly be suspecting Hana!" The woman's fiancé blurted in suddenly, his face looking desperate as he squeezed Hana's hand. "She wouldn't! Meri is her daughter!"

Yako, who had been silent up until now, finally spoke.

"That's right, Neuro! She's—" The girl began, but she was silenced by one of Neuro's gloved hands was rammed down her throat.

"You are correct, sir." Neuro said darkly, grinning as he released Yako. "I am not suspecting Miss Hana. For _you_ are the one who has attempted to murder her little girl so many times."

It was as if everything froze for a moment, and then Hana turned to her fiancé with a look of utter disbelief on her face.

"That's not true, right? You would never—"

"What, of course it isn't true, honey. Of course…" He spluttered, squeezing Hana's hand again. He sighed, collecting himself, and then he turned to face to demon. "Do you have any proof?"

"Mister, what do you do for a living?" asked Neuro.

"Hey, I was asking you a—"

"Just answer him, honey. We need to get you cleared, right?" Hana spoke up uncertainly.

"Very well. I'm a vet. What has that got to do with—"

"The little girl was poisoned with common rat poison and a tranquilizer," Neuro cut in easily to explain. "The former being easy to obtain by anyone, but the latter being a bit difficult…although, with a job working as a veterinarian, it is perfectly plausible."

"What?! But, I…I mean, what about Hana? She works as a vet as well, at the same clinic, shouldn't—"

Hana jerked away from her fiancé in disgust.

"I thought you said you believed it wasn't me?!" She asked incredulously. "What happened to that?"

"I…I'm sorry honey," The man swallowed. "I don't know what came over me. I was just a bit scared, is all."

Hana's eyes softened, but she kept her distance from her fiancé. She opened her mouth to speak, but Neuro spoke first.

"Oh, I think you _do_ know, you worthless pile of human scum," The demon said, the evil intent in his eyes clearly visible. As Hana looked at him in slight fearful confusion, however, Neuro returned the innocence to his eyes and placed his hands on Yako's shoulders. "That is what Sensei's eyes are telling you."

"What? I—" Yako shook her head, but the demon clamped her jaw shut and held her head still, forcing her to cease all movement; she gave up and fell limp, allowing Neuro to continue.

"Allow me to explain for Sensei," Neuro announced happily. "You see…Mr…"

"Ichirou," Hana shakily filled in the name for the demon.

Neuro nodded.

"Mr. Ichirou here, under the agreement that he and Miss Hana will marry next month, has been desperately trying to off poor Meri-chan. You see, with that big inheritance of her's, as I'm sure you all know, if Meri-chan dies, her money goes to Miss Hana. If Mr. Ichirou and Miss Hana were to marry, their funds would become joint. If Miss Hana were to die at that point, the money would belong solely to Mr. Ichirou. "

Hana, still in shock, was staring at her soon-to-be husband with a disgusted look of disbelief. Was what the detective saying true? Her fiancé was planning to do her in as well?

"However, it would be unnecessary to kill Miss Hana if she were blamed for the death of her daughter and thus removed from the situation." The demon continued.

Ichirou looked livid.

"And how do you know it isn't her?!" He asked wildly, pointing towards Hana. "How do you know she didn't mean to do it?"

"Simply put, she has no reason to commit the crime," answered Neuro, simply and calmly. "The money is only transferred over to Meri-chan's name when she becomes an adult. Until then, it is under the technical control of Miss Hana. Legally, even if not ethically, she may do what she pleases with it."

"And, someone else…why not someone else?!"

"The poison could have of course only been planted in Meri-chan's food by those present at the time: Katsuragi Yako-sensei and myself, Meri-chan, Miss Hana, the owner of the stand, and you, Mr. Ichirou. And only you hold a benefit with Meri-chan's death. Only you hold a motive."

Ichirou swallowed.

"And…what about the time when _I_ wasn't there?" He asked desperately.

"We can only assume that, since that incident involved Meri-chan almost being run over, that the one in the offending car was you, Mr. Ichirou." Neuro completed smugly. "And that is what Sensei here has told me."

It was then, however, that Yako noticed Meri, finally awake again, standing silently on the back edge of the ambulance. Her little hands were balled into fists, and it was clear that she was trying to stop herself from bawling. Yako bit her lip. It was clear that Meri had been standing there for quite some time. The poor little girl had to hear all that, had to bear that her own father had tried to kill her. Seemingly, no one else had noticed her yet.

"That's unforgivable…Mr. Ichirou, why?! Your own daughter!" Yako cried, saying the words that she knew both Hana and Meri were begging to call out. "Even if she isn't your biological child, she's still your daughter, you know! She still considered you to be her father!"

Ichirou looked up, glancing towards the ambulance and finally realizing that Meri was conscious once more.

"She's not my daughter, that filthy brat!" He hollered. "She was just a little nuisance, always blabbing, always there, holing all that money away for herself, the selfish little shit!"

"That's cruel…" Yako muttered. "You're the selfish one, Mr. Ichirou!"

"Call me what you will, but that brat is the one in the way of _my_ happiness! She should be the one being lectured, shouldn't she?!"

"Hmph. It does not matter anymore. This mystery has been solved." Neuro grinned with satisfaction.

A police car rolled up to the scene. Sasazuka, who had wandered over some time ago, evidently had called for the car. A police officer stepped out of it and cuffed Ichirou when Sasazuka gestured towards him.

"We can hear the rest of this back at the police station," Sasazuka said calmly. "Ishigaki, let's go."

"Aww, but, Senpai! Couldn't we just catch up with them la—" The younger police officer stopped after seeing the look his senior had given him. "Fine, fine."

The remaining group watched them drive away, and once the car was out of sight, Hana broke down sobbing once more. Immediately, her daughter jumped to the ground and rushed over to her mother, throwing her small arms around the crying woman. Meri's own eyes were brimmed with tears, but she seemed determined to not cry.

"It's ok, mum." She mumbled, trying to comfort her mother. "We don't need someone like that…"

Hana nodded and sniffled, rubbing her eyes and then embracing her daughter.

"I guess you're right, Meri-chan…" She sighed. "I'm just…so glad you're all right. It's all over now. I'm so glad…"

Yako stepped gently forward and smiled sadly at Meri.

"I'm sorry it had to turn out this way," She said gently, kindly. "But, you're strong, Meri-chan. You handled this really well."

"Well, it's really…not that big of a deal, really." Meri responded. "I mean…after all, I thought about it and, well…we aren't losing much. Papa wasn't really Papa after all, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." said Yako honestly. "I just hope…I haven't caused you to hate me for getting him condemned?"

"No, no!" Meri said quickly. "You know…I still want to be a detective. Then I can help people, just like you do."

--

Author's Note: I apologize for the corny mystery—I am not exactly what you'd call and expert at the mystery genre. However, as this is a MTNN fanfiction, I figured it needed at least some sort of mystery, so I tried my best. In any case, I am here before you today to let you know that the next chapter is going to be very...delicate, so to speak. Therefore, it may take me a little while longer to complete it. Chapter 8 is going to be the last chapter, I've decided. When this fanfiction is finished, I will also be writing another one (Also NeuYako,) but it will not be as long as this one.


	8. 08 Curiosity

Yako had been disappointed when it was announced that the fireworks display was canceled due to the slight drizzle of rain, although her spirits perked right up again when Hana offered to treat her to ice cream in thanks for solving their case.

"It's the least I can do," Hana insisted, finally no longer crying. "Please allow me to do this."

Yako agreed, and Meri seemed quite excited and joyful about spending more time with her idol. After ordering quite a few several-scoop ice cream cones for herself (of course not without asking if it was really fine for Hana to pay for it all,) Yako was subjected to a bombardment of questions from the over-eager Meri, who seemed to have made a fast recovery. Yako could tell, of course, that this was not entirely true, but she knew that the little girl was trying her best to be positive. Yako answered Meri's questions to the best of her ability, while being as honest as possible, and the little girl seemed to take every word that the detective said as some sort of God's law. A half an hour and several more ice cream cones later, however, and Neuro was growing impatient.

Just as with Higuchi, these people had stolen away his servant without so much as asking him about it. The case was over; they were useless to him now. The demon had to remind himself, however, that these were the people who had granted him his meal with their mystery in the first place, and thus he had to be patient; it would not do to destroy his façade of a reputation in front of these people, the younger of which was likely to blab her mouth off about how she met "that famous piggish detective." Nevertheless, his patience was growing short, however, and when the crowds of the festival began to thin, he clamped a hand over his servant's shoulder and pulled her to her feet roughly.

"Now, Sensei, we'd best be going now, shouldn't we?" asked Neuro innocently, and only Yako could know that threats were laced neatly underneath his harmless mask. "It's getting rather late, and we wouldn't want to disturb little Meri-chan's bedtime, now would we?"

Although she had been having fun, Yako sighed, realizing her defeat. She stood up.

"I guess you're right, but…" She mumbled. Truth be told, she was feeling a bit sleepy herself.

"Well then, Miss Hana, Meri-chan," The demon nodded to the two of them. "Have a good night."

"Ah, yeah, it was nice talking to you!" Yako called; Neuro was already literally dragging her away by the collar of her yukata. "See you around!"

Both Meri and Hana waved cheerily, and by the time the two were out of sight, Neuro spoke, tightening his hold on Yako's shoulder to the point where she believed her bones would crack. When she winced in pain, he grinned.

"Insolent little worm," He began, "What did you think you were doing? Wasting time like that."

"What? You got your mystery already, right?" Yako protested, trying to squirm away.

"Indeed, however, although it might have been flavorful comparing to the mysteries I have encountered in Hell, it was anything but filling." Neuro continued. "There is nothing left here to solve, and thus we are wasting time by staying here."

Yako considered asking why the demon went through all the trouble of coming here if it was such a weak mystery, but for her own safety she decided against it and instead pondered it on her own. 

Finally she came to the conclusion that perhaps Neuro had been curious about the festival. She smiled as she remembered him telling her that all beings, humans and demons alike, were curious about new things. _At least we have some similarities,_ Yako found herself thinking.

When the remaining sounds of music and beating drums were starting to fade from the distance they had walked thus far, Yako remembered something. She could not, strictly speaking, stop in her tracks—Neuro was still dragging her along—although she would have if it had been possible at the time.

"Neuro, wait!" The girl called suddenly. "I mean…_please_ stop for a moment."

The demon continued to walk, not even considering complying with his servant's ridiculous request. Nevertheless, he spoke.

"What is it, Servant Number One?" He spared a glance over his shoulder at the girl.

"We forgot Godai." Yako answered pathetically.

Neuro grinned, exposing his demonic fanged smile now that they were out of sight from the general public (the streets were rather lonely that night, due to the gloomy night drizzle.)

"Forgot?" asked the demon. "No, no, Yako. That substandard bag of sopping dirt should be capable of finding his own way back. If not, he is even more miserable than I have imagined, and we are best off without his insignificant existence."

It was rather harsh, Yako thought, falling silent, but that was Neuro. She didn't dare tell him that Godai would be happy to be disowned by the demon, if that were really the case. Although she doubted either of them would ever be let off the hook that easily. She sighed depressingly to herself, although a part of her knew that if she was given the opportunity or offer to be forgotten by Neuro, she would not take it.

With a light shrug, Yako pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and decided to make conversation; after all, it was rather uneventful to be dragged along without even the luxury of being able to use your own two feet.

"So, Neuro…" She began, thinking of something to say or ask—casual conversation was not common between the two of them. "Did you have any fun at all? Besides the mystery, I mean."

Neuro could not know that the girl was truly curious. He gave an answer regardless.

"Of course." He stated, smiling blankly to himself as he walked. "I rather enjoy koi ponds, don't you?"

"I thought so…" mumbled Yako, feeling stupid that she had expected an answer different from the one she'd received.

Both she and Neuro were silent the rest of the way back to the office, although Neuro had switched his grip to Yako's head, and while dragging her he had not spared her the occasional swing into a trash bin or lamp post. Needless to say, by the time they had arrived back at the office, Yako felt she had several bruises, some in places she'd rather not mention.

Yako opened the office door; it swung inward on its hinges to reveal a darkened office, the only light coming in from the windows, dim orange city lights reflecting through raindrops. They'd left the lights off when they had left, but now Yako was struggling to find the light switch, blinking her eyes to try and adjust them to the minimal light. She heard Neuro cackle somewhere to her right; the girl knew that he found it amusing that she was stumbling at such a simple task. As a demon, of course, his eyes had no problem seeing in the darkness.

"Hey, instead of laughing at me, you could help me out," whined Yako. A few seconds of silence from her demon companion, and she spoke again. "Neuro? Can't you just help me out here?"

"Like this, you mean?" The demon smirked, and Yako was not fast enough to get out of the way; Neuro tripped her just as he had earlier that day, and again she fell flat on the floor.

Yako rolled over and rubbed her nose.

"That's not helping!" She was about to retort further when she noticed something odd.

Neuro was kneeling on the floor, palms flat on the cold ground as he looked at her with the same grin that almost always signaled injury or abuse. But that was not strange. The thing that Yako noticed was the fact that he was, at least in some way, down on _her_ level. What was with that? Usually, Yako reminded herself, with the demon's need for superiority he'd prefer to stand over her, as to look down on her existence as much as possible. Perhaps he'd utilize the ceiling to position himself even higher. But that was not the case here. Neuro was kneeling, actually kneeling, and what scared Yako the most was that the demon's glowing eyes, another source of light in the room now, seemed to be displaying something startling close to interest. But that couldn't be. _I'm only a dishrag to him, _Yako reminded herself.

After a few silent moments, however, the demon's gaze was beginning to make Yako feel uncomfortable.

"What?" She asked disconcertedly.

For perhaps the first time in his life, Neuro was torn between two initiatives. Something compelled him to touch the lowly servant before him, to have her closer to him. Perhaps he did not fully understand what this compulsion was, but it was there. He could not deny it; he had to admit that he had not known that he possessed these desires, but he was not one to linger over such matters. That is to say, if he wanted it, he wanted it, and that was that, he would get what he wanted; one could call him stubborn or arrogant, but he would not agree. Simply, he did not ask himself _why_ these desires existed, for that was not a concern of his, but _what_ they were. The only way to find out, he figured, was to act upon them. All beings, humans and demons alike, were curious about new things. However, somehow, it did not seem easy. Somehow, to do something like this, just on a whim…he could not explain it properly, but it almost seemed despicable. For a moment, he could not decide, but he then dismissed his hesitance (hesitance was for the weak, after all.) Yako, after all, _was_ his. She was _his_ servant, and _his_ toy. His grin widened considerably to expose his needle-sharp rows of teeth.

Looking at Neuro oddly, Yako suppressed a shudder as the demon's sadistic grin turned into a predatory leer.

"Jeez, Neuro…w-what?" She asked again. "It feels weird when you stare at me like that. What is it?"

It was then that Yako realized she was still on the floor, but if she was going to get up, it was too late, because in a quick movement, Neuro had pinned her to the floor, all four limbs, his hands over her wrists.

"I am hungry." He stated simply. It might have been a laughable statement, but the demon had no other way of putting it. That is what it felt like to him; hunger.

Yako may have been naïve, but she was not an imbecile. Comprehension dawned quickly on her face; she knew what was going on here. At least somewhat. She felt her heart rate increase. But it was too fast, she had no time to think. From her experiences with Neuro, her first instincts simply told her to get out of this situation. Somehow.

"H-Hey," She said, keeping her voice as steady as possibly with a demon literally looming above her. "You said you only ate mysteries. I…really don't think there are any mysteries on the floor here. So, if you can please…let me up."

"I am not going to _eat_ you, Yako."

"W-What….exactly are you getting at?"

"Hmph. Those goldfish really _would_ have been offended." commented Neuro. He began to snap playfully at the ends of Yako's hair, much like a puppy would bite at the heels of a small child.

Yako could feel the demon's breath at her neck. She knew her face had turned red.

"Hey, w-wait!" The girl spluttered, instinctively struggling to get free. This was, of course, a futile effort, but she was not thinking. "St-Stop. We're…I mean…you…this…this is the _floor_, you know! B-Besides…the door…it's open…stop. What if someone—"

"Silence, servant." The demon commanded. "You may be a despicable little worm, but you are _my_ despicable little worm, and thus you have no right to refuse anything I decree. I may do with you what I please, Yako. I own you."

Yako had no retort, and while she struggled to think of one, squirming all the while, Neuro turned his attentions to her neck. He nipped her on the muscle at the base of her neck, and although in truth the demon hardly knew what he was doing, a shudder went down Yako's spine; it was not from displeasure or pain. Neuro's tongue flicked out, and as he licked at Yako's neck, she nearly fainted. Still, she struggled on instinct—this was odd, this was strange, Neuro wasn't even_ human_—but Neuro seemed to be having no trouble preventing her escape.

And then Neuro slid his mouth over hers, and took Katsuragi Yako's first kiss. It felt natural, it felt good. The demon felt the girl's body slacken and his eyes shone in triumph.

Yako had given up her struggles; when the initial shock faded, she relaxed in Neuro's grip. She couldn't tell herself she wasn't enjoying this. And now the demon's tongue explored her mouth curiously and freely, not expressing any caution, and although she had loosened up and ceased her squirming, his grip remained firm on her wrists. Yako wanted to close her eyes; enjoyment or not, this was too much, too fast. And yet, she found herself captivated in Neuro's green eyes as if they were enchanting. Then again, she figured as she reminded herself once again of what he was, perhaps they really were.

Still, she could see the sadistic desire to torture her in those eyes, and though she expected something like it, Yako could not stop herself from flinching when Neuro bit down on the soft flesh of her inner lip with his needle-sharp fangs, drawing a slight trickle of blood. Neuro only smirked in amusement as the girl squeaked in pain; he ran his tongue over the wound as if tasting the red liquid that flowed into her mouth.

Not long after that moment, however, footsteps could be heard running up towards the office. With the door already wide open, the little boy from Thursday skipped into the office cheerily, wearing a yukata; evidently he was on his way back from the festival with his parents.

"Katsuragi-sensei! I found my kit—" He called out, and when he looked down in front of him, it took him a few seconds for realization to settle over him. "Oh," he said softly.

With a slight mischievous smile, he placed a hand in front of his eyes as if to say "I didn't see anything," and then he skipped from the office again, trampling down the stairs.

In the moment of confusion, Neuro had slackened his grip on Yako, and she chose that moment to squirm away in embarrassment. She rose to her feet, as did Neuro. She backed up several paces, out of his reach.

"He saw us!" She fretted nervously, mostly to herself. "He _saw_ us!"

Neuro grinned in sheer amusement. What an entertaining twist of events.

"Interesting." He commented.

Yako was unsure of just what the demon was referring to.

--

Author's Note: Ok, it's finished! I really hope you like it. I also hope that they are not out of character. I tried my best, but as I see it Neuro's never been one for gentleness, so it would seem weird to me if he was. That, and in his inexperience with such type of things, I always assumed he would rush into it, as always with a lot of initiative. I don't know though, that is just my opinion, so please tell me what you think about what I've written!

In the future, there may be a sequel to this (if you guys like it) but for now I'll be working on a shorter NeuYako fanfiction.

Oh, and I just want to say…thank you guys SO MUCH for all the positive support you've given me. Thank you for all the reviews and favorites and story alerts and everything! You guys are the best!


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